Editorial

School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Jamia Hamdard (SPER), New Delhi, India organised one-day
conference on Phyto-pharmaceuticals held virtually on August 6, 2020. The conference was sponsored by All India
Council for Technical Education, New Delhi. The event was jointly organized in association with Society of
Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Delhi Branch. The event was supported by AIMIL Pharmaceuticals India Ltd.,
Multani Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Spinco Biotech Pvt. Ltd and Anchrom Enterprises, India.

The conference aimed to create awareness related to the research and regulatory aspects of phytopharmaceuticals - a
new class of drugs. It provided a platform for interaction of participants with the experts from industry and academia.
The potential of medicinal plants and proprietary traditional medicines in the discovery and development of
phytopharmaceuticals was explored remained the main stay of the discussions.

Broadly following topics relating the discovery and development were discussed:

a)	Medicinal plants and natural product research - potential and challenges
b)	Evidence-based traditional drugs and phytopharmaceutical research
c)	Advances in drug discovery in phytotherapy
d)	Quality control and efficacy assessment of phytopharmaceuticals
e)	Intellectual Property Rights, regulatory and marketing challenges related to phytopharmaceuticals

About 450 registration requests were received on the conference portal. Out of these about 300 participants were
selected for the same. A total of 279 delegates participated in the e-Conference. It included 122 participant from Delhi,
130 participants from other parts of India and 27 international participants. The delegates were from colleges,
universities, research institutes, industries and regulating agencies. The scientific deliberations included lectures by
invited speakers and selected paper presentations by participants.

The conference started by a welcome address by the Organizing Secretary, Dr. Showkat R. Mir. It was followed by the
inaugural address by Prof. Mohd Amir, Dean, SPER. He emphasized the importance of concerted and cohered research
efforts that can lead to success in the discovery and development of phytopharmaceuticals.

Prof. Vidhu Aeri, Professor of Pharmacognosy at SPER and Chairperson of the Indian Pharmacopeia Commission subcommittee
on phytopharmaceuticals presented insights on the concept, regulations, opportunities and the way
forward in the development of phytopharmaceuticals from medicinal plants. Dr. Upendra Sharma, Senior Scientist,
Natural Product Chemistry and Process Development Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology,
Palampur delivered a talk on the role of Himalayan medicinal plants in the discovery of bioactive molecules. Dr. Onkar
Singh, Senior Research Manager at Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Gurugram shared his experience with the
participants. He is associated with the Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetic studies of new drug molecules for
more than 15 years. He highlighted the role of bio-analytical techniques in establishing the bioavailability and bioequivalence
of new drugs. Dr. Sanchit Sharma, Executive Director, AIMIL Pharmaceuticals (India) Ltd provided the
industry perspective on the research and development of phyto-therapeutic personal care products. The conference
ended on a vote of thanks presented by Dr. Saima Amin, Joint Secretary of the conference.

More than 50 abstracts were selected after exhaustive screening by the scientific committee. I sincerely acknowledge
the support of Science International for accepting to publish the conference proceedings in the current issue of
Research Journal of Phytochemistry. I am thankful to Dr. Saima Amin and Dr. Javed Ahamad for their untiring support
throughout the conference and co-editing the current issue.